Welcome to 2010! I have a lot to share with you about our plans for this coming year—which, by the way, marks the 10-year anniversary of MarketingProfs.

But all that can wait. Right now, I want to take a moment to remember the year that was.

You know that saying about how you can't understand where you're going unless you understand where you've been? Or something like that? That's the reason I've pulled together this list of the top stories of 2009.

Actually, it's your list and you pulled it together for me—you picked 'em by clicking 'em.

So what interesting trends emerge from this list? At least three:

1. What do we do with Social Media? Last year was clearly a year that marketers began to pay attention to Social Media in a big way, and began to explore in earnest what Twitter, Facebook, and the like can do for brands and business. In other words, social media has evolved from the passionate early adopters to the mainstream marketing agenda of the CMO. Many of the content categories covered here are clearly dominated by social media, both from a strategic angle (Jason Baer's "Putting the Why Before the How" was the top seminar of 2009) as well as tactical (how to use Facebook was a theme across many content categories).
2. How can we do more with less? 2009 was the year of the Great Recession. So it's no surprise that marketers were also looking for ways to maximize their budgets. Jonathan Kranz's two-part story on 10 high-impact, low-budget marketing ideas was a clear winner last year, and one of the most-read Get to the Po!nt quick-read newsletters was on that topic. Of course, looking to do more with less also made marketers curious about what free social media tools were capable of. (See No. 1, above.)
3. Two words: Digital marketing. Online was a key driver of marketing in 2009, at least for our readers. Even in a newly social world where Twitter and Facebook are the brightest and newest toys, things like email, landing pages, and website conversion remain the backbone of digital marketing. It'll be interesting, in 2010, to see increasing convergence of social tools with the rest of the digital toolkit.

So herewith, the most-read, most downloaded, most watched stuff of 2009 at MarketingProfs:

Top 10 MarketingProfs Today Newsletter Articles

1. The Dark Side of Twitter: What Businesses Need to Know by Michael Stelzner
2. 13 Essential Social Media 'Listening' Tools by Clay McDaniel
3. 10 High-Impact, Low-Budget Ideas for Marketing in a Down Economy (Part 1) by Jonathan Kranz
4. Seven Words That Will Make Your Web Site Worth Viewing by Jerry Bader
5. How to Develop a Successful Facebook Fan Page by Mark Ivey
6. Top 10 for Online Marketing Success by Aaron Kahlow
7. Ten Steps for Creating a FANtastic Facebook Fan Page by Mari Smith
8. 10 Email Marketing Tips for Small Business Owners by Kara Trivunovic and Andrew Osterday
9. 10 High-Impact, Low-Budget Ideas for Marketing in a Down Economy (Part 2) by Jonathan Kranz
10. Social Media 101: Use Twitter to Attract Prospects and Engage Customers by Debra Ellis

Top 5 MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog Posts

1. With Facebook Pages, Who Needs a Web Site? by Paul Dunay
2. Why Do People Use Twitter? by Ann Handley
3. Top 10 Secrets to Social Network Superstardom by Paul Chaney
4. Have You Ever Seen an $11,000 Tweet? by Mack Collier
5. Do Your PDFs Have Embedded Sharing Options? by Galen De Young

Top 3 MarketingProfs Case Studies (paid content)

1. 3M Canada Case Study: How a New-Product Launch via Facebook Resulted in Immediate Sales, Ongoing Consumer Relationships by Kimberly Smith
2. Ford Motor Company Case Study: How Twitter Helped Save Ford From a PR Disaster by Kimberly Smith
3. Adobe Systems Case Study: How a Facebook Game Attracted 10 Times the Traffic, New Fans, Real Sales by Kimberly Smith

Top 3 MarketingProfs Store Downloads (paid content)

1. Twitter Success Stories: How 11 companies are achieving their marketing objectives—140 characters are a time
2. Facebook Success Stories: How 21 companies are using the social network to connect with customers
3. Social Media ROI Success Stories: How 11 companies—like OfficeMax, Nissan, BMC and Microsoft—are listening, engaging and measuring Facebook Social Media ROI

Top 3 Get to the Po!nt Quick-Read Newsletters

1. A Whole New Way to Unsubscribe Get to the Po!nt: Email Marketing
2. I Love How I Hate You Get to the Po!nt: Customer Insight
3. Maximize Your Social-Networking Investment Get to the Po!nt: Marketing Inspiration

Top 3 MarketingProfs Online Seminars (paid content)

1. Putting Why Before How: Seven Steps for Focusing Your Social Media Strategy with Jason Baer
2. The Art Of Social Media: It's All About The Relationships with Charlene Li
3. Bam! A Recipe to Add Social Media to your Marketing Mix with Sandy Carter

Honorable Mention (and FREE): High-Performance Landing Pages that Boost Your Bottom Line with Michael Goodman and Anna Talerico

Top 2 MarketingProfs Research Products (paid content)

1. Digital Marketing Factbook: A comprehensive compilation of trends, data, charts and facts from Internet marketing's most trusted sources
2. The State of Social Media Marketing

Top 3 MarketingProfs Videos

1. How Do You Measure Your Social Efforts? with KD Paine
2. What's Your Favorite Social Media Tool?
3. Peter Shankman: Email, Social Tools, Musings on a Web 2.0 Washing Machine

So what do you think? Did I miss you favorite? Do you have something else from our archives you particularly enjoyed last year? Please share it below.

And Happy New Year!